majordomo's Profile

Geeksweets can create an epic nerd cake of epicness for your friends. The woman running the operation is lovely, and her prices are reasonable. I'm in the game industry / tech space & all my friends are hella nerdy, so we've sampled her stuff on several occasions.

Went last week, sampled two different kinds- apple/cheese and a regular croissant.They were slightly better than grocery store fare, sadly. Size was good, fairly flakey and flavourful, but not seemingly fresh as advertised. They tasted somehow flat & chewy... missing the airy, outer crunch to inner soft butteriness that makes for my ideal croissant. I've had better in the city, and won't bother going back.

3G Vegetarian restaurant on Cambie has excellent dim sum, and their specialty is veggie faux-meat. This is used in a variety of dishes, such as fried rice, noodle dishes etc. Have been several times with vegetarian & omnivore friends, we've all come away happy with our meals.

Our first trip to Cartems today, at their pop-up shop in Gastown. The owner, Jordan, served us & we managed to chat for a good ten minutes about how things came to be & the tasty wares he had on offer. I should say, what wares he had left over after the morning opening rush. They opened their doors at ten, we arrived at ten-thirty, and half the listed types of doughnut were already gone.

Jordan seems very serious about making a go of things, and told us he had researched competing product across the country & the WA State area. He talked about his vision and product (the ratio and types of flour, offerings for vegans, gluten-challenged etc.), intent on making quality. My husband (who jokingly called himself a donut sommelier on our walk home, such is his wealth of expertise) said that he'd be tweeting, "Three bucks for a doughnut? Hell yes, when they're this good."We sampled the Earl Grey and Citrus doughnuts, both cake style, very fresh and subtly flavoured. A slight nod to the citrus as its flavour came through a bit more distinctly.

I was initially surprised that there would be this much demand for high-end doughnuts, particularly in the DTES area. Then I got to thinking, there's not much else to compare with locally, is there? I don't even consider the pre-thawed crap at Tim Horton's the real deal, and Lee's is not as good as it was, for some reason...

Hopefully they can manage to find suitable permanent premises soon, as they seem to be doing very good early business and it's nice to see such enthusiasm married with quality results.

Huge French pastry fan- used to live in Montreal, traveled to Paris all the time. I can appreciate excellent French pastry. I am so disappointed in Thierry Busset's Patisserie.

Got there as soon as they opened this morning- everything looked fabulous. I picked up a croissant and raisin brioche, took them home and... they were both dry as dust. Seriously- for the price they charge, I not only expect good, I expect superlative. The brioche was at least a little soft in places, but the croissant tasted three days old. I binned them both. Sad to say, I've had better croissants at airports.

The chokkies and macaroons did look fantastic, but they probably won't pull me back in unless I'm literally walking past. Someone please try the baked goods again in a few days & let me know if today was just a fluke?

Went for lunch today- it was packed. As soon as we were seated, the sales terminal went down. Only two people running the front- manager and one waitress. They scrambled to keep up, but for lunch service it was pretty slow, particularly as they had to negotiate how to get orders flowing to the kitchen. Paying was the toughest part- only one pin machine. ??? Both ladies were very nice, did their best so I have no complaints towards them.

This place could benefit from having one other server at lunch, and get their tech in order to support a small restaurant- this is not a fish shack! Particularly important in the first few weeks while hammering out the kinks.

The food...Nine dollars for a piece of cod the size of a tempura shrimp, plus a small bowl of heavily over-seasoned fries and dollop of coleslaw? Wow. A brief look around the room and none of the portions seemed overly generous. I certainly feel like I've had better portions at the original location.

Adjacent to a host of new cheap-eats pizza places in Crosstown & the pricier options in Gastown...wonder how this place is going to position itself & whether they got the hint that many of us don't want to pay $20 for a margherita pizza, no matter its pedigree...

Agreed with the previous comments here- beautiful interior, excellent service but the prices are completely out of whack.

I had a twelve dollar Margherita and thought it compared nicely to Libretto in Toronto in terms of price/quality/persentation, but adding four pieces for a prosciutto pizza (the *only* difference between our orders) jacks the price by six bucks!!! I don't care if it's got delicately shaved unicorn horn on it, $18 for this pizza is about four dollars more than I'd top out at.

Nicli, I want you guys to stay in business- please take a look at your prices and adjust things to a sensible level. You'll make more dough if you move more dough.

The buffalo ribs were so tough I had to send them back- the waitress saw me hewing away with my knife and suggested I give up. She brought beef ribs instead, which were much better but dry in texture as well.I get the dry BBQ thing, grew up with it summers in the southern U.S. Have never had such tough meat before... My feeling is that they're still getting the hang of the smoker/process & things will hopefully improve over time. Husband's beef brisket brought raves from him.

Cornbread is bland, dry and flavourless. Ditto the beans- echo the 'thin' sentiment. Staff was very obliging and the space was pleasant. I'm not too interested in going back though.

We're going to be visiting Toronto over the holidays, would like to ask for your suggestions on interesting dinner spots, particularly for xmas day. We're foodies from Vancouver, game to try anything, but hoping to find downtown options which cater to the vegans also in our party. *sigh* - I made them promise no tofurkey this year. 8)